Written by Veronica Kassatly ( This is just a quick primer. Anyone looking for more in depth analysis will find it in “The Great Green Washing Machine Part 1:Back to the Roots of Sustainability.”) Defining Sustainability: Back to the Roots In fashion, sustainability appears to have become an elitist, even imperialistic concept in which the […]
Read MoreCategory: Clothing
How Do Our Clothes Impact the SF Bay & Ocean Health? Experiential Learning with Materevolve
Written by Jess Daniels with photography by Paige Green Earlier this month, we set sail on the San Francisco Bay with a small group of textile industry experts and ocean health advocates to discuss how fibers and fashion are impacting two of our planet’s largest carbon pools: soil and sea. The trip was organized by […]
Read More3 Ways the Fashion Revolution Can Support Healthy Soil & Healthy Seas
Written by Andrea Olmsted Over the last few decades, as the growth of the $900 billion dollar global fashion industry has skyrocketed, we’ve seen the greatest degradation of our soil and sea. Such impacts include market-driven agricultural practices contributing to the loss of viable soil carbon, while fast fashion’s reliance on fossil-fuel derived fibers — […]
Read MoreFibershed Solutions to Microplastic Problems: Why textiles need to be at the core of California’s action on microplastics
By Jess Daniels This is a big year for a vast yet microscopically small problem: microplastics. California is set to begin a series of regulatory and policy efforts aimed at understanding, measuring, and strategizing to mitigate the plastic smog that blankets our waterways, soils, and even air. With more than 7 Trillion microplastic particles pouring annually […]
Read MoreTula: A Return to India’s Regenerative Cotton Roots
As part of our series on cotton in community, we are honored to share this article produced by Harpreet Singh, exploring the connections between cotton, colonialism, cloth production, and community-based economies. As Harpreet writes, tula is a Sanskrit word that means cotton and also means balance or equilibrium. The vision and approach of this work […]
Read MoreCotton in Community: Reconnecting to Traditional Indian Farming Practices in the Prakriti Fibershed
Written by Esha Chhabra with supplemental reporting by Jess Daniels. Photography by Ashish Chandra and Nishanth Chopra, as noted. Nishanth Chopra grew up in a city that’s seeing record cancer rates. But it’s not a coincidence, he says. “I don’t think I would have been as passionate about organic farming and ethical supply chains if […]
Read More3 Maps Show How We Can Unlock Local Clothing Industries
How Fibershed’s RFMI Ecosystem Mapping is setting the stage for designing and implementing key expansions in textile manufacturing in the Western United States Written by Nicholas Wenner Each year, the United States produces enough wool to create millions of sweaters and enough cotton to cut and sew billions of t-shirts — so, why is it […]
Read MoreBenefitting Climate & Communities: How Clothing Cooperatives Could Grow Equitable Regional Economies
Cooperative structures like the Carolina Textile District provide an inspirational example of the type of regional networks that could grow and flourish throughout the country. By Nicholas Wenner and Adrian Rodrigues What does it look like to coordinate a manufacturing vision that will regionalize the production of textiles in the Western US and contribute to […]
Read MoreWeaving Expression with Gather the Universe
Written and photographed by Koa Kalish As Mary Diaz works at her loom, it’s not clear if she’s the one weaving or if it’s the large ornate spider on her arm that is weaving her. “Weaving is a great metaphor for my life, “Mary says. “To me, the spider humbly embodies the beauty in the […]
Read MoreStitching Texture and Connection with Carol Lee Shanks
Written and photographed by Koa Kalish Carol Lee Shanks has been creating unique sculptural clothing and wearable art since 1983. She curates thoughtful and intimate spaces for people to enter her world within her studio and showroom by appointment, or whenever she debuts a new collection. In a two-story building on a quiet road in […]
Read More